FSDs Share
Notes with PilotsThe TSA’s federal security directors (FSDs) oversee
U.S. airports of varying size and safeguarding measures.
AvSec 2008 brought four directors together as part of a
panel discussion to talk about their responses to
security directives and regulations, and the different
obstacles they confront in protecting their properties.

“The National
Capital Region is highly visible,” said Karen Burke, FSD
for Washington National Airport, which caters to 9.3
million passengers a year. Burke, a former United
Airlines station manager, discussed the challenges of
serving the nation’s capital and the special requests
she receives from dignitaries who frequent the close-in
airport.

Joseph Terrell
discussed how Pittsburgh is one of three airports
involved in the 60-day test of the
CrewPASS
airport-screening program, and how this change maximizes
airport security resources. Debra Engel, who oversees
both Charleston and Myrtle Beach Airports, talked about
the peculiar security demands of working with a facility
that shares runways with an Air Force base. Annie Nelson
compared her experiences as FSD at the Phoenix Sky
Harbor International Airport with her recent assignment
as director at Richmond International.

The four
panelists fielded questions about passenger and airline
employee screening, security measures for passenger
versus cargo operations, and the flexibility permitted
in implementing policy.

Security as
an Investment Pays Off
This year’s AvSec features many high ranking TSA policy
makers, including Ray White, deputy assistant
administrator for the agency’s Office of Security
Operations (OSO). White highlighted the monetary value
of investing in air transportation security, emphasizing
the devastating toll a terrorist act can have on the
economy.

White spoke
about his ongoing role to provide regulatory and
operational oversight for the entire spectrum of TSA
security operations. He reviewed the 20 current layers
of security in place to protect U.S. airports from
terrorist and other criminal activities. The OSO officer
applauded ALPA’s security efforts and emphasized the
need to work together to share information and explore
new ideas.

White’s
policy-making authority extends to 450 federalized
airports within the U.S. as well as the activities of
TSA’s 55,000-plus security officers and staff.

MANPADS, the
Unseen ThreatJames Shilling believes the U.S. airline industry
should be better prepared to deal with the threat of a
man-portable, air-defense-systems (MANPADS) attack
against an airliner when operating civil reserve air
fleet (CRAF) duty. The director of business development
for defense contractor Northrop Grumman pointed out that
military charters, often operated by ALPA-member
airlines, currently transport troops in and out of war
zones.

Shilling
stressed that these aircraft should be provided with
systems to adequately defend against MANPAD attacks,
adding that planes carrying high-ranking government
officials and senior military officers currently offer
these safeguards.

He talked about
the ease of installing a recommended Northrop Grumman
laser-based, counter-MANPADS system, encouraging AvSec
attendees to press Congress for legislation demanding
installation for CRAF operations. “If you don’t ask for
it, the DOD and other government entities aren’t going
to just give it to you,” he said.

MANPADS,
Closer to HomeCould MANPADS pose a realistic threat to North
American commercial aviation? An AvSec 2008 panel
discussion addressing threatened airspace management
examined this possibility, as well as the effects an
attack could have on the air transportation system.

“Pilots have no
guidance and no training,” responded Steve Westover, a
FedEx MD-11 first officer who is a member of ALPA’s
Threatened Airspace Management Project Team. He noted
that airlines need to develop policy for this threat and
to prepare their pilots for this possibility of an
attack. He noted that MANPADS have been involved in 30
to 60 airline incidents around the world, and that
prevention requires “layered countermeasures, increased
cooperation between civilian organizations, and an
informed public.”

Capt. Clyde
Romero, ALPA’s MANPADS subject matter expert, spoke
about different MANPADS deployment systems, highlighting
their power and effectiveness. However, he noted, “If
they can’t see you, they can’t hit you.” Romero, a
former U.S. Army helicopter pilot, emphasized that early
detection of these weapons is the key to mitigating
incidents.

James Shilling,
who provided the previous MANPADS presentation,
discussed both aircraft and land-based defense systems,
but noted that this topic requires greater public
education and awareness. “From decisions to hardware, if
we do nothing, nothing will happen,” he said,
encouraging AvSec attendees to speak to other pilots and
contact government representatives for legislative
support.

Moderated by
ALPA’s National Security Committee vice-chairman, Capt.
Bill McReynolds (FedEx), the panel talked about the
initial findings of the Department of Homeland
Security’s MANPADS study. The panelists presented
several videos depicting the weapons’ capabilities and
available defensive measures, and answered audience
questions.

A TSA
Perspective and Retrospective
Morris “Mo”
McGowan, TSA Assistant Administrator for Security
Operations, shared some of his thoughts on aviation
security with the pilots who attended this year’s ALPA
Aviation Security Forum, held August 11-14 in
Washington, D.C.

“I’d like to
take an historical perspective,” McGowan stressed,
“because sometimes we forget where we started.”

One evening in
February 2002, while he was in retirement in the
mountains of southern New Mexico, McGowan, a former
Texas police officer, received a telephone call from
Washington, D.C., asking him to move to Washington to
help launch a new agency—the TSA.

Creating the TSA,
he said, was “the largest civilian undertaking in the
history of the U.S. government. They put us in a small
conference room with several small tables. We had 20
employees.

“The way you
should build an organization like this,” McGowan
continued, “is from the top down—start with the leaders,
then add the employees. We’d didn’t have that luxury; we
had to build the TSA from the bottom up. We had to hire
and deploy more than 50,000 people—just the uniformed
officers!—by Nov. 19, 2002. We knew the only model we
could build to was the existing model.”

McGowan
confessed that he originally thought TSA would need five
years to become a “mature” agency. “Now I think it’ll
take another five years,” he said.

Meanwhile,
McGowan warned, regarding terrorist threats to aviation
security, “If anybody thinks this is going to go away, I
can tell you it won’t. There are real threats, real
people who want to do us harm. And their target is
aviation.

“The terrorist
threat constantly evolves—they probe us,” he continued.
“They know the capabilities of our equipment, our
officers, and our procedures. We knew that if we just
built a Maginot line, they’d find a way around it. So we
have to continue to evolve, too.”

As an example,
McGowan said, on Aug. 9, 2006, “we had to change the
paradigm for how we screen baggage in six hours. It’s
amazing that we were able to do it, but we didn’t have
any choice.

“There’s no
document, no SOP, you can write that will prevent an
attack,” he acknowledged. “But anything that disrupts
[our adversaries], that makes ‘em think twice, is a win
for us.”

For example,
McGowan said, “You’d be surprised at the amount of money
we’ve intercepted that was headed to the Middle East.
Our ability to spot criminal behavior has become pretty
good. We’ve seen a lot of forged documents coming from
terrorist organizations. We’re also still catching a lot
of guns at the checkpoints—18 last weekend alone.”

McGowan shared
details on new passenger screening technology and
procedures that are in the works. He added, “We require
airports to run IED [improvised explosive device]
checkpoint drills—we want officers to see, over and
over, IEDs and components.”

McGowan declared
that the TSA is “a unique agency because of the
responsibilities we have. ALPA has free access to come
see me—and they do. I’m committed, when I get that kind
of information, to act on it—we get staff to take
appropriate action.”